Toronto's dog-friendly cafe just shut down
You might want to shelter your furry friend's eyes for this one, because Toronto's dog-friendly cafe has closed its doors.
Dogs & Coffee near Queen and Bathurst was only open for about a year before abruptly shutting down just a few days ago.
"I just wanted to say thank you to all our furry friends and their parents," the owner wrote on Insagram.
"Thank you for supporting our lil doggie friendly cafe. It is closed now and my heart is broken but we tried to do our best."
Customers instantly replied to the closing announcement with disappointment and gratitude.
"So sad to hear this but wishing you the very best," one user wrote.
"Thank you for making a place where me and my family felt welcome!" another said.
The beloved coffee shop was known for providing coffee, wine and beer to its human customers, as well as healthy treats to its not-so-human ones.
They were also known for their adorable dog portraits.
Cafe owner Inna Besedin said she was inspired to open Toronto's first dog-friendly cafe because they're all over Europe.
She's originally from Ukraine but has travelled all over the continent and said dog-friendly restaurants and cafes are the norm.
"We thought people would care about it, but Canada is different than Europe. We had regulars that came everyday and did appreciate us, but basically we weren’t busy enough," she said.
Besedin added that because of Canadian health regulations, she wasn't allowed to actually sell food to customers with dogs around and it was difficult to make a profit selling only beverages and dog treats.
She said their rent was extremely expensive, and they just weren't bringing in enough business.
Last week, Besedin took to Instagram in hopes that someone would buy the cafe and continue to operate it as a dog-friendly coffee shop.
"I really was fighting for someone to buy it and take its place so it could continue as a doggie cafe, but nothing really came out of that,” she said.
As of now, Besedin said she has no plans to open another location.
"I love dogs. I have a dog and he's the logo on our Instagram and I would love to stay in the dog industry," she said. "I'm just trying to figure out what I can do."
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